Electronic textile

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a textile ( 1 ) for mounting a first electronic component at a first designated position ( 121 ) on the textile, and for mounting a second electronic component at a second designated position ( 122 ) on the textile, the textile comprising a first marker pattern ( 111, 112 ) associated with the first designated position, and a second marker pattern ( 113, 114 ) associated with the second designated position. With the textile according to the invention, an electronic textile can be reliably manufactured using conventional equipment known from the electronics assembly industry, such as a pick-and-place apparatus, whereby the electronic components are properly provided at their respective designated positions on the textile.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a textile for mounting a first electronic component at a first designated position on the textile and a second electronic component at a second designated position on the textile. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing an electronic textile. The invention further relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an electronic textile. The invention further relates to an electronic textile comprising a first electronic component, a second electronic component, and a textile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A textile is a material comprised of interlacing fibers that can for instance be manufactured by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibers together. Many types of textiles are used in our every day life. When electronic components (i.e. devices that work by controlling the flow of electrons) are integrated into a textile new application fields emerge. When the textile is an integral part of the electrical circuit comprising the electronic components, an electronic textile is obtained.

An example of an electronic component is a LED package in the form of a surface mounted device (SMD-LED), which can be attached to a textile substrate by gluing, soldering, snap button connection or stitching. The resulting light-emitting textile could open up a wide range of new interior and apparel applications, ranging from illumination to atmosphere creation to messaging.

An electronic textile is known from UK patent application GB2396252A. The known electronic textile comprises SMD-LED's which are mounted at designated positions on the textile either by hand or by using conventional equipment known from the electronics assembly industry. The SMD-LED's are electrically addressable via conductive tracks, which are either formed from yarns woven into the textile, or from tracks printed onto the textile.

A drawback of the known electronic textile is that the manufacture by using conventional equipment known from the electronics assembly industry often results in at least some of the electronic components not being provided at their respective designated positions on the textile.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a textile that can be used for manufacturing an electronic textile in a more reliable way.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing an electronic textile using the textile.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an electronic textile using the textile.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an electronic textile comprising the textile.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the object is realised in that the textile according to the opening paragraph comprises a first marker pattern associated with the first designated position and a second marker pattern associated with the second designated position.

In the textile according to the invention, a first and a second marker pattern are provided for marking the designated positions of a first and a second electronic component, respectively. With respect to aligning the textile relative to the first and electronic component, the tolerance on the dimensional non-uniformity of the textile has been increased.

A conventional manufacturing process in the electronics assembly industry is a so-called pick-and-place process. In this process, a substrate is aligned relative to an electronic component using a marker pattern to prepare for placing the electronic component at the designated position. For this purpose, the apparatus is equipped with an optical detector that recognizes the marker pattern on the substrate. Following recognition of the marker pattern, the designated positions where electronic components should be placed are calculated. In other words, for providing electronic components at their respective designated positions, the known pick-and-place procedure involves a common marker pattern, i.e. a single marker pattern that is shared by multiple electronic components.

The inventors have realized that the commonly-used pick-and-place procedure is not suitable for automatic pick-and-place of electronic components on a textile as the use of a common marker pattern requires the textile to have substantially constant dimensions. In fact, the dimensions of a textile are not constant, as they may, for instance, change as a result of stretching or heating, and distances between components often vary more than the available tolerance in the connection.

In a first embodiment of the textile according to the invention, the first and second marker patterns are detectable by using non-visible radiation. Such detectability is based, for example, on the absorption of non-visible radiation such as X-rays, ultraviolet radiation or infrared radiation, possibly resulting in luminescence of the marker patterns. This embodiment ensures that the marker patterns do not negatively influence the appearance of the textile, as they are not visible to a viewer, at least not under normal daylight conditions.

In a second embodiment of the textile according to the invention, the first and second marker patterns are detectable by using magnetic field detection.

In a third embodiment of the textile according to the invention, the first and second marker patterns are formed from yarns that are woven into the textile. This embodiment represents a textile according to the invention that can be conveniently manufactured, for instance using an automated weaving loom. In case the yarns are electrically conductive yarns that form magnetically detectable marker patterns, the yarns may also serve to improve the dissipation of heat within the textile.

In a fourth embodiment of the textile according to the invention, the textile comprises a first layer and a second layer, the first layer being arranged to be provided with the electronic components, and the second layer comprising the first and second marker patterns. As a multilayer textile can readily be made using an automated weaving loom, this is a convenient embodiment for ensuring that the marker patterns do not negatively influence a viewer's appearance of the textile.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the object is achieved with a method of manufacturing an electronic textile comprising the steps of providing a textile with a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position of a first electronic component, and a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position of a second electronic component, providing the first electronic component, aligning the textile relative to the first electronic component using the first marker pattern to prepare for placing the first electronic component at the first designated position, placing the first electronic component onto the first designated position, providing the second electronic component, aligning the textile relative to the second electronic component using the second marker pattern to prepare for placing the second electronic component at the second designated position, and placing the second electronic component onto the second designated position.

In a first embodiment of the method according to the invention, the step of aligning the textile involves the use of an apparatus comprising a detector arranged to detect the first and second marker patterns. This embodiment enables a convenient way of practicing the method according to the invention.

In a second embodiment of the method according to the invention, the step of aligning the textile involves the use of an apparatus comprising a detector arranged to recognize the first and second marker patterns, wherein the detector is an optical detection system. The use of an optical detection system, such as a camera, is a convenient way of recognizing the first and second marker patterns on the textile.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the object is achieved with an apparatus for manufacturing an electronic textile comprising a holder for holding a textile, and an alignment tool for aligning the textile relative to a first electronic component by detecting on the textile a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position of the first electronic component, and relative to a second electronic component by recognizing on the textile a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position of the second electronic component.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the object is achieved with an electronic textile comprising a first electronic component, a second electronic component, and a textile comprising a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position and a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position, wherein the first electronic component is provided at the first designated position and the second electronic component is provided at the second designated position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a first textile according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a second textile according to the invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B schematically show a first and a second method for manufacturing an electronic textile according to the invention.

FIG. 4 shows an apparatus for manufacturing an electronic textile according to the invention.

It should be noted that these figures are diagrammatic and not drawn to scale. For the sake of clarity and convenience, relative dimensions and proportions of parts of these figures have been shown exaggerated or reduced in size.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, the present invention is described with reference to exemplary textiles according to the invention.

A first embodiment of a textile according to the invention is the textile 1 shown in FIG. 1 that is arranged to electrically address electronic components via warp and weft yarns comprising electrically conductive fibers. FIG. 1 shows the warp yarns 141 and 142, and the weft yarns 151 and 152, respectively.

The textile 1 comprises four designated positions 121, 122, 123, and 124 in a 2-by-2 arrangement. A designated position is a position on a textile where an electronic component is to be provided, taking into account the available tolerance in connecting the electronic component to the textile. In other words, a designated position defines an area on a textile in which an electronic component must be placed in order to be electrically addressable via the textile.

The textile 1 comprises eight markers 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and 118, that can for instance be woven, embroidered or printed onto the textile 1.

The markers 111-118 define a set of marker patterns. In the context of this invention, a marker pattern can consist of a single marker, or of an arrangement comprising multiple markers. A marker pattern that comprises a single marker defines a point, a marker pattern that comprises two markers defines a line, the individual markers being the end points of the line, and a marker pattern that comprises three or more markers defines an area, the individual markers being the corner points of the area. In the remainder of this description, a marker pattern will be referred to by {x, y, . . . }, wherein x and y are individual markers that together constitute the marker pattern. For example, in the textile 1, the marker pattern {111, 112} defines a line with the markers 111 and 112 at its end points.

Each of the marker patterns on the textile 1 is associated with a distinct designated position. For example, the marker pattern {111, 112} is associated with the designated position 121. It is desirable that a marker pattern is located in close proximity to its associated designated pattern. More in particular, it is desirable that no other marker pattern is closer to a designated position than the marker pattern that is associated with that designated position, and that no other designated position is closer to a marker pattern than the designated position that is associated with that marker pattern. This is particularly desirable as it may improve the processability of a textile that suffers from dimensional instabilities.

The distance to a designation position is determined relative to the centre of mass of the designated position. The determination of the distance to a marker pattern depends on the type of pattern. In case the marker pattern defines a line, the distance is determined relative to the centre of the line, and in case the marker pattern defines an area, it is determined relative to the centre of mass of the area.

Table 1 lists the designated positions of the electronic textile 1, together with their associated marker patterns.

TABLE 1 Designated positions of the textile 1, and their associated marker patterns. Designated position Marker pattern 121 {111, 112} 122 {113, 114} 123 {115, 116} 124 {117, 118}

The textile 1 comprises eight cross-shaped markers for defining four marker patterns, each of which marks a designated position for an electronic component. The skilled person will understand that for a given number of designated positions in a certain arrangement, any number of markers of any shape and any given material suffices, as long as each marker pattern can be associated with a distinct designated position.

Preferably, the point, the line, or the area defined by a marker pattern overlaps with its associated designated position. For example, the line defined by the marker pattern {111, 112} overlaps with its associated designated position 121. In case an individual marker of a marker pattern is positioned outside of its associated designated position, it is preferably located within a distance of 10 mm from its associated designated position.

The markers 111-118 are made of electrically-insulative yarns that are woven into the textile 1, and that have a color (for instance black) that sufficiently contrasts with the color of the textile 1 (for instance white), so that they can be readily detected by a detector that makes use of irradiation of the markers with visible light, such as an optical camera.

A marker may also be detectable by using radiation that is not visible to the human eye, such as X-rays, ultraviolet or infrared radiation. Such a marker can for instance be manufactured from a yarn that is coated with a luminescent material that can be excited with ultraviolet radiation, or from a yarn that strongly absorbs X-rays, ultraviolet or infrared radiation. An advantage of such a marker is that it cannot be observed by a viewer, at least not under normal daylight conditions, which means that the marker patterns do not negatively influence the appearance of the textile.

Alternatively, a marker may also be detectable by using magnetic field detection. A magnetically detectable marker may be manufactured from any magnetically detectable material. For instance, a magnetically detectable marker can be printed onto a textile using a composition comprising magnetic particles. A magnetically detectable marker may also be formed from a yarn having a coating that comprises magnetic particles. Preferably, a magnetically detectable marker is formed from an electrically conductive yarn. When an electrical current flows through a yarn, a detectable magnetic field is induced. When an electrical current flows through two yarns that have a crossing point, the induced magnetic field will be highest at the crossing point, whereby the crossing point may constitute a marker. Markers made from electrically conductive yarns may also function as an interwoven heat sink.

A second embodiment of a textile according to the invention is the textile 2 as shown in FIG. 2, comprising a first layer 21 and a second layer 22, that can readily be manufactured using an automated weaving loom.

In the textile 2, the first layer 21 is arranged to be provided with electronic components at the designated positions 221, 222, 223, and 224, while the second layer 22 comprises the markers 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, and 218. In FIG. 2, the projections of the markers 211-218 on the first layer 21 are shown with dashed outlines. Similarly as for the textile 1 of FIG. 1, the markers 211-218 define four marker patterns, each of which marks a designated position on the first layer 21, such as the designated position 221 that is marked by the marker pattern {211, 212}, which defines a line whose projection on the first layer 21 overlaps with the associated designated position 221.

The markers 211-218 can either be detected by a detector facing the first layer 21, or by a detector facing the second layer 22. In case of the former, the markers 211-218 can for instance be detected because of their capability of absorbing non-visible radiation such as X-rays that can penetrate the textile 2. For this purpose, the markers 211-218 may be formed from metal yarns that are woven into the second layer 22.

The first layer 21 and the second layer 22 are arranged such that, when the textile 2 is observed from the viewing direction 23, the second layer 22 is covered by the first layer 21. As from the perspective of a viewer, the second layer 22 comprising the markers 211-218 is covered by the first layer 21, the markers 211-218 cannot be observed by the viewer, which means that the markers 211-218 do not negatively influence the appearance of the textile 2.

A method for manufacturing an electronic textile according to the invention is schematically shown in FIG. 3A.

In the first step 31, the textile 3 is provided. The textile 3 comprises electrically conductive yarns 341, 342, 343, and 345, and markers 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317 and 318. The markers 311-318 define the marker patterns {311, 312}, {313, 314}, {315, 316}, and {317, 318} that are associated with designated positions on the textile 3 where electronic components are to be provided. The textile 3 can for instance be provided with the markers 311-318 by means of embroidering or printing.

In the second step 32, the first electronic component 331 is provided.

In the third step 33, the textile 3 is aligned relative to the first electronic component 331 using an apparatus comprising a detector that is arranged to detect the first marker pattern {311, 312}, to prepare for placing the first electronic component 331 at the first designated position 321.

In the fourth step 34, the electronic component 331 is placed onto the designated position 321, and subsequently connected to the electrically conductive yarns 341 and 342, for instance by means of a snap button connection or by means of stitching. Alternatively, adhesion means such as electrically conductive epoxy or solder can be used, in which case one has to apply the adhesion means to the designated position 321 prior to placing the electronic component 331, and one usually has to apply a stimulus (such as heat) to solidify the connection after having placed the electronic component 331.

For placing the further electronic components 332, 333, and 334 in order to manufacture the electronic textile 301, the second, third, and fourth steps are repeated for each of the further components.

In the method illustrated in FIG. 3A, the steps of providing an electronic component (the second step 32), aligning the textile 3 relative to the electronic component (the third step 33), and placing the electronic component onto a designated position on the textile 3 (the fourth step 34), are performed sequentially for each electronic component. However, each of the steps can also be performed simultaneously for all electronic components that are to be placed onto the textile. This is illustrated in FIG. 3B, wherein the electronic components 331, 332, 333, and 334 are provided simultaneously in the second step 32, the textile 3 is aligned relative to the electronic components 331, 332, 333, and 334 in the third step 33, and the electronic components 331, 332, 333, and 334 are placed at their respective designated positions 321, 322, 323, and 324 simultaneously in the fourth step 34.

The second step 32, the third step 33, and the fourth step 34 are performed using a pick-and-place apparatus equipped with a detector for recognizing the markers 311-318. Preferably, the second step 32, the third step 33, and the fourth step 34 are performed while having the textile 3 fixed in a frame or fixed on a rigid holder in order to prevent variations in shape and/or dimensions of the textile 3 during the pick-and-place process. In case a stimulus such as heat has to be applied in order to solidify an adhesion means, this measure has the additional advantage that the textile 3 cannot shrink during the heating step, thereby preventing an electronic component from releasing from its designated position, which is especially advantageous when the electronic component is a relatively large electronic component.

An apparatus for manufacturing an electronic textile according to the invention is schematically shown in FIG. 4. The apparatus 4 comprises a textile holder 41 and an alignment tool 42. The textile holder 41 and the alignment tool 42 can move relative to each other. A textile 43, which is similar to the textile 1 shown in FIG. 1, is fixed on the textile holder 41 in order to prevent variations in shape and/or dimensions of the textile 43 during the manufacturing process. The alignment tool 42 is arranged to align the textile 43 relative to a first electronic component by detecting on the textile 43 a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position of the first electronic component, and relative to a second electronic component by recognizing on the textile a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position of the second electronic component. For this purpose, the alignment tool 42 comprises a detector 44 that is capable of detecting a marker pattern on the textile 43. The alignment tool 42 further comprises a component holder 45 for holding an electronic component.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope. 

1. A textile for mounting a first electronic component at a first designated position on the textile and a second electronic component at a second designated position on the textile, wherein the textile comprises a first marker pattern associated with the first designated position and a second marker pattern associated with the second designated position.
 2. The textile according to claim 1, wherein the first marker pattern and the second marker pattern are detectable by using non-visible radiation.
 3. The textile according to claim 1, wherein the first marker pattern and the second marker pattern are detectable by using magnetic field detection.
 4. The textile according to claim 1, wherein the first marker pattern and the second marker pattern are formed from yarns that are woven into the textile.
 5. The textile according to claim 1, wherein the textile comprises a first layer and a second layer, the first layer being arranged to be provided with the electronic components, and the second layer comprising the first marker pattern and the second marker pattern.
 6. A method of manufacturing an electronic textile, comprising the steps of: providing a textile with a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position of a first electronic component, and a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position of a second electronic component, providing the first electronic component, aligning the textile relative to the first electronic component using the first marker pattern to prepare for placing the first electronic component at the first designated position, placing the first electronic component onto the first designated position, providing the second electronic component, aligning the textile relative to the second electronic component using the second marker pattern to prepare for placing the second electronic component at the second designated position, and placing the second electronic component onto the second designated position.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of aligning the textile involves the use of an apparatus comprising a detector arranged to detect the first marker pattern and the second marker pattern.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the detector is an optical detector.
 9. An apparatus for manufacturing an electronic textile comprising a holder for holding a textile, and an alignment tool for aligning the textile relative to a first electronic component by detecting on the textile a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position of the first electronic component, and relative to a second electronic component by recognizing on the textile a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position of the second electronic component.
 10. An electronic textile comprising a first electronic component, a second electronic component, and a textile comprising a first marker pattern associated with a first designated position and a second marker pattern associated with a second designated position, wherein the first electronic component is provided at the first designated position and the second electronic component is provided at the second designated position. 